Despite challenges, teachers would do it all again!

Earlier this year, we set out to hear exactly what it’s like to work in the education sector today, from those who know best… you, the teachers. With over 10,000 responses from 166 countries, our World Teacher Survey gives us real insight into what it is like to be a teacher in the 21st century.

In our widest-ranging teacher-related research study to date, we found that 69 per cent of global teachers surveyed would still choose the profession again if they were given the chance to start their career over, despite the challenges of their role.

Open to teachers across all educational levels, the survey asked for views on a number of topics including: what makes you happy, the reasons why you chose a career in teaching, the general demands you face, and what organisations – including publishers – should be doing to better support teachers around the world.

Despite citing challenges, from administrative work to managing mixed-ability classes, the majority of teachers said that they would go into teaching again because of the profession’s non-monetary rewards. These included seeing students achieve their goals (79 per cent) and helping them to overcome challenges (70 per cent).

In response to the survey, Peter Phillips, Chief Executive of Cambridge University Press, said: “As part of the University of Cambridge, we exist to advance knowledge, learning and research. That means understanding how the needs of our customers are changing.

“With rapid technological advances, the jobs of tomorrow have never been harder to identify. Preparing children for their futures is becoming ever more difficult, especially with increasing pressure to deliver strong examination results. So I’m proud to see that in our survey, 94 per cent of teachers believed that education is more than exam results.

“The transformation in education over the past decade is creating both opportunities and challenges. Our World Teacher Survey gives us new evidence to help address some of these challenges directly.”

41 per cent of participants told us that the greatest difficulty you face today is managing mixed ability classes. Despite the positive majority, it’s challenges such as this that are having an impact on overall views of the profession. Over a quarter of teachers asked stated they would discourage a relative or friend from becoming a teacher (27 per cent) and one in ten would choose a different profession given the chance to start over again.

The World Teacher Survey ran from March to July 2018 and was available in ten different languages.

At Cambridge, we work hard to ensure that our resources and materials give you the results that you need. We listen to what you have to say in order to improve our products and services so that you can focus on what you do best – teach.